Event Resources

Bath students unite for education

Tuesday 15-11-2016 - 16:12

The United for Education national demo is just days away and University of Bath students will be out in force in London on Saturday. Meg Murphy from Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts shows us how they got students involved.

For the first time in recent years, the University of Bath Students’ Union is fully backing the upcoming National Demo. We at Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts (BSAFC) have taken on the task of mobilising what can be quite a conservative city around the rallying cry of free education. Our student body isn’t the most political of populations, and a lot of our work has just been to raise awareness.

We aimed to bring our university together under the banner of ‘United for Education’ with a whiteboard campaign involving as many people as possible. This has been a great, eye-catching, visual and creative way to encourage open discussion about the changes in HE, giving students and staff the opportunity to let their opinions be heard and spread their involvement across social media.

We wanted all students to really have to think about the cost we’re paying for our education versus what we’re receiving. A theme that has been expressed throughout our campaign has been the overwhelming opinion that higher fees do not correlate to better quality; that in fact, the reverse is true. Confronting hesitant students with this question has encouraged many of them to reconsider their position and has really bolstered support for the demo.

In this last week before the demo, we’ll be hosting an Education in Crisis panel with NCAFC to explore government changes in HE in more detail and what can be done to resist on the university, union, local and national levels. It can all be rather overwhelming, so we’re asking students to take action at whatever level is accessible. Our banner making session will follow this so our contingent looks as bright as possible on the day. We’ll continue spreading the word on whiteboards across social media right up until Saturday.

#Nov19 #UnitedforEducation

The full selection of Bath students' whiteboard messages is available on their Facebook page.